The 2013 edition of the Festival of the Performing Arts in 亚洲天堂 Lake paused for a moment to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of one of the festival鈥檚 original members and organizers. During the gala performance on the final evening of the two-week event, Boni Lambert announced her retirement after 55 years of service to the performing arts community.

Boni Lambert came to 亚洲天堂 Lake in 1952 as a young girl when her father moved the family from Vancouver to open a tire shop. 亚洲天堂 Lake was a very different place than it is now. Wood-board sidewalks and gravel highways east and west of town gave 亚洲天堂 Lake more of an isolated frontier town feel than it has now.

鈥淚t used to take five hours to drive to Prince George,鈥� Lambert recalled. 鈥淏ut it seemed like we had more in town than we do now. We used to have a dry-cleaners, two grocers on main street, and a photography studio.鈥�

What 亚洲天堂 Lake always had is a strong arts community.

The festival was started in 1957 by then local music teachers Margaret Long and Moira Vine.

The first festival was held in the old United church, currently the Masonic lodge at the corner of Third Ave. and Centre St. The original festival was mostly focussed on piano performance, but it quickly grew to include vocal and instrumental categories.

Lambert鈥檚 work with the festival began with writing advertising for the festival programs. Her role within the group of volunteers that run the festival grow as the festival itself grew, until she became the festival vice president.  This year鈥檚 festival included a reinstatement of an instrumental session in Smithers, as well as vocal, theatre-arts, piano, song and poetry sections in 亚洲天堂 Lake.

The festival鈥檚 program hasn鈥檛 been static; it reflects the life of the arts in the region.

鈥淵ears ago we used to have a dance festival as well,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e had competitors from Prince Rupert through to Quesnel. It was a big deal for 亚洲天堂 Lake.鈥�

The return of the instrumental portion to this years festival was the revival of what used to be a strong band and instrumental talent pool in 亚洲天堂 Lake. The festival had previously discontinued the instrumental section after band programs were phased out in the local elementary and high schools. There weren鈥檛 enough participants to justify a section. The festival has become smaller over the years, but it still requires a dedicated group of volunteers to put together the program every year. Lambert recently decided that this year would be her final year as a festival organizer. 鈥淎fter 50 or so years, I figured I had done my time,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here comes a time as you get older when you think maybe you should step back a bit and let younger people carry on.鈥�

The motivation for volunteering all those years came from seeing young people enjoy the music and develop as musicians and performers as they grew-up.

鈥淚 wish there were more people who would step forward and volunteer for the committee,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a problem getting help during the festival, but it鈥檚 the organizing part that it would be nice to have a few more people.

Most of her family is in Kelowna and Kamloops area, but she has no plans to move from 亚洲天堂 Lake.

鈥溠侵尢焯� Lake is a great community,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y friends here mean a lot to me.鈥�

鈥溠侵尢焯� Lake is my home and I鈥檓 going to stay here as long as I can.鈥�